What’s The Difference Between Intel 2nd- and 3rd-Gen Core Ultrabooks?

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I’ve rattled on (and continue to rattle on) about the fashion-forward ENVY 14 Spectre here at TheNextBench.com. That – along with the Folio13 – came out on the scene as our first Ultrabook models, featuring 2^nd-gen Intel Core processors. They both snapped up awards and great reviews along the way (ahem, Best of CES 2012, anyone?). Since then, we’ve announced the new Spectre^XT , ENVY 4 and ENVY 6–  and now, more recently, The latest TouchSmart PCs: The Spectre^XT TouchSmart and the ENVY TouchSmart 4 All offer up 3^rd-gen Intel Core processors.

But there’s something under the hood  that a couple of you guys on the boards have been asking about – measuring the physical performance jump between the two generations of Core CPUs. In short, you wanted to see up-close-and-personal what the difference would be between Intel’s 2^nd- and 3^rd-gen Core processors in our Ultrabook offerings. So, I decided to grab two of our units that offered the same RAM (4GB), same speedy SSD….the only big difference being the CPU.

I ran both through a battery of tests – tests usually meant for gaming-ready rigs – so don’t let the numbers fool you here. They are meant to be indicators of relative performance. For each of these test round-ups, I set the resolution to 1280 by 780 in-game and tested performance at “Medium” settings. I go into much more detail about the individual tests (and how you can run them yourself) in this blog post: TheNextBenchmark.

 

What shouldn’t come as a huge surprise is that the newer-gen hardware in laptops like the ENVY 4, ENVY 6 and Spectre^XT produces better results.

Also, good news: Both generations of CPU do a stellar job running Guild Wars 2. With Outlook open in the background.

(That isn’t good news for my productivity.)

OK, so that’s a quick-and-dirty breakdown. Have any additional questions about the Spectre or its younger, more metal, cousin (….or any of the other Ultrabook options we offer, for that matter)? Ask away! And speaking of Intel processors, next week is IDF! I’ll be there – how about you? Swing by the HP booth and let’s nerd out together over some of HP’s newest gear.